Rose Bowl Finishes Off Exciting Bowl Season

Wow! Bravo! Encore! What an exciting college football bowl season it was that just ended. It seemed there were more exciting games that came right down to the wire than there have been in a while, which made just about every game worth watching. Even some of the "who gives a care" bowls made me watch from the point that I tuned in to the end.

Of the 28 bowls played this season, only five were what I would consider as blowouts — games won by more than two touchdowns. Another seven were decided by between 8-14 points. The rest were all games that came down to a touchdown or less to determine the winner, most of those ending in late-game or overtime heroics.

The first nail-biter was the Las Vegas Bowl on Dec. 22 when California nearly let a 21-point fourth-quarter lead slip away, but held on for a 35-28 win over BYU. Next was the Nevada Bowl on Christmas Eve. In the first overtime game of the college postseason, Nevada took advantage of a missed extra point in OT to steal a 49-48 victory over Central Florida.

The day after Christmas saw Memphis stave off a furious comeback by Akron in the final three minutes of the Motor City Bowl to prevail 38-31. The next day, the Insight Bowl saw Arizona State come from behind in the fourth quarter to keep Rutgers from picking up its first bowl victory 45-40.

Both games on Dec. 28 were classics. In the MPC Computers Bowl, Boston College intercepted a pass in the end zone with a half a minute left in the game to beat Boise State 27-21. Then, in the Alamo Bowl, a surreal ending reminiscent of Cal/Stanford in 1982 saw the Nebraska bench pour onto the field as Michigan lateralled and lateralled and lateralled before being stopped short in a 32-28 Husker win.

In the Holiday Bowl on Dec. 29, Oregon came up short in a comeback bid against Oklahoma when the Sooners intercepted a pass at their 10-yard line with 33 seconds left to preserve a 17-14 win. A day later, both the Music City Bowl and Independence Bowl had great games. In the former, Virginia kicked a field goal with just over a minute to go to defeat Minnesota 34-31 — then Missouri stormed back from being down 21-0 to Florida in the first quarter by scoring a touchdown with about two minutes left to win 38-31.

In the Liberty Bowl on New Year’s Eve, Tulsa picked off two passes in the fourth quarter and scored the winning touchdown with less than three minutes left to defeat Fresno State 31-24. And, in the Houston Bowl, TCU hit a 44-yard field goal in the fourth quarter to hang on to a 27-24 win over Iowa State.

A couple of the first games of 2006 were down to the wire. In the Outback Bowl, Florida recovered an onside kick with just over a minute remaining after Iowa kicked a field goal to pull within a touchdown, 31-24. Then, in the Cotton Bowl, Alabama nailed a 45-yard field goal as time ran out to edge Texas Tech, 13-10.

In the much-ballyhooed BCS matchups, three of the four ended up being dynamite games. In the Sugar Bowl, despite a 28-0 second quarter lead for West Virginia, the Mountaineers had to hold on for dear life as Georgia came storming back in a 38-35 win. Three overtimes in the Orange Bowl between Penn State and Florida State is all that needs to be said, other than the Nittany Lions prevailed, 26-23. And of course, who could forget the Rose Bowl for the national championship? Heisman Trophy runner-up Vince Young scrambled for the go-ahead touchdown with 19 seconds left to give Texas the title over two-time defending champs Southern California.

So, despite all the moaning and groaning many of us college football fans do about the BCS, and which team it leaves out and which team gets jilted from a shot at the title, the bowl season continues to be fun and intriguing, no matter how much we might not "care" about some games. And while many of us still clamor for a playoff system, the bowls still provide an adequate alternative and allow many schools that would otherwise miss out on the postseason to still participate.

What are your favorite 2005 bowl memories? Talk back below!